Surfing Stag Do

Stag do surfing is one of my favourite ways to start a weekend. You get a group lesson with a proper instructor, a stack of big foam boards, a beach full of waves and a lot of grown men falling off. Most of the lads will stand up at least once by the end. Some of them for a whole second.

Nobody needs to have surfed before. Lessons start on the sand with the basics, then you head into the white water where the waves are small and forgiving. It’s physical, it’s funny and it works up a serious appetite (and a thirst, which the lads will be keen to sort out later).

Surfing is a great leveller. Strength doesn’t help much, balance does, and you can never quite predict who’ll have it. The rugby lad might spend two hours being tumbled like a sock in a washing machine while the stag’s skinny mate from accounts pops up first go. Everyone will have a theory about why.

It’s also relaxed in a way some activities aren’t. No scores, no losers, just a beach, a laugh and a couple of hours in the sea. Then a hot shower, a big lunch and a pint. That’s a good day by anyone’s standards.

Newquay is the UK’s surf capital, and Fistral Beach is the famous one. It’s also a cracking stag town, so the lesson and the night out are sorted in one place. See our Newquay stag do guide for the rest of the weekend.

The wider Cornwall and Devon coast is full of surf schools too, and so is the Welsh coast. Go a bit further from the big towns and you’ll often get quieter beaches, though the nightlife drops off at the same rate.

• Wetsuits and boards are usually included. Bring swimwear, a towel and something warm for after. British sea water is character building, even in August.
• Swimming. You’ll mostly be in the shallows, but everyone should be comfortable in the sea.
• Book a morning. Lessons usually run for a couple of hours. Do it before the big night, not the morning after, unless you want the instructor watching the stag be sick in the shallows.
• Booze rule. Sober in the water, always. The pub will still be there.
• Conditions. Surf schools pick the beach based on the day’s waves, so you might end up somewhere different to the one you expected.
• Camera. Someone needs to film the stag’s first attempt. And his tenth.

Make a full Cornish weekend of it with coasteering on day two, or keep the watery theme going with wakeboarding. For the evening, a pub crawl round town does the job. There’s plenty more on our stag do ideas page.